Steely Dan @ Chumash, 1/19/2007

[DwightMcCann]

I shot Steely Dan a couple of weeks ago at the casino. I was allowed three songs. They are not very visually interesting but they have a very strong fan base and I have had a lot of hits on my website for these images as there have been a couple of announcements including a fansite in Sweden. I don't have time to resize to 800 pixels so you'll have to link off to my website to see them by clicking Steely Dan (http://dwightmccann.com/ChumashCasinoResort/SteelyDan01192007/SteelyDan01182007.html) or this image:

http://dwightmccann.com/Images/SteelyDan01192007/SteelyDanCollage-200.jpg (http://dwightmccann.com/ChumashCasinoResort/SteelyDan01192007/SteelyDan01182007.html)

Edit: I have Al Jarreau in the pipeline.

[Dave_G]

Super as usual Dwight.

I bet you've been asked this a lot - what do you do with regards to white balance when shooting bands under such lights?

[DwightMcCann]

Super as usual Dwight.

I bet you've been asked this a lot - what do you do with regards to white balance when shooting bands under such lights?

I take a lot of measurements, er, ah, no, um, I use expensive gray cards, well, no, actually, I, well, ... OK, I use AWB and sometimes I touch the white balance in PP but not often. They spend a lot of money to get the colors and lighting the way they think is best and they have a lot more experience than me in doing it.

Thanks, they didn't do anything interesting so to get anything interesting was tough.

[ayotnoms]

Nice shots, Dwight.

What's the story on "I was allowed 3 shots"? They--actually, just Walter Becker and Donald Fagen--have a reputation of being persnickety musicians and your comment made me think that they wanted to extend their control to photography as well.

...wish I could have gone. ;)

[DwightMcCann]

Nice shots, Dwight.

What's the story on "I was allowed 3 shots"? They--actually, just Walter Becker and Donald Fagen--have a reputation of being persnickety musicians and your comment made me think that they wanted to extend their control to photography as well.

...wish I could have gone. ;)

Three songs! They are rumored to be a bit difficult to work with but I don't have to work with them. And most of the groups do control the photography to a fair extent. I was asked not to take an "close ups" so I told the guy, "No problem, I have big lenses."

[ayotnoms]

Three songs! They are rumored to be a bit difficult to work with but I don't have to work with them. And most of the groups do control the photography to a fair extent. I was asked not to take an "close ups" so I told the guy, "No problem, I have big lenses."
Whoops, I meant songs...

Yeah, I guess some artists are more fussy than others. According the wife, who works at the Concord Pavilion up here in the Bay Area, Bob Dylan didn't even want any of the staff to make eye contact with him. Sheesh...

Funny they would say no close-ups. I take it they didn't tell you this while you were holding your 400mm bazooka. :lol:

[narlus]

i listened to 'king of the world' on my ipod tonight during spin class. despite my punk rock roots, i have a severe soft spot for Steely Dan, probably because my dad was a big fan. their first 4-5 records are still in regular rotation in my listening.

good shots, given the tough dynamic range of some of the lighting (esp the one w/ the black bass players and back-lit players behind him). and speaking of the bass player, get off the stool!

[René Damkot]

and they have a lot more experience than me in doing it.
Not this time, they didn't...
About the worst lighting I've seen from the casino IMHO. You can quote me on that.
Some nice images nontheless. I like the first and the drummer shot. Nice font on the collage as well.
Pity about the guitar heads in front of the faces on the few more 'neutral' images...

Agree on the images (read: artists) not being overly exciting.
That combined with the lighting, makes this series less then stellar.
All I can say is: Nicely done on a tough job...

A well, I guess even the light tech in Chumash is allowed an 'Off' day ;)

[johnstoy]

Way to tell 'em Dwight...the pics turned out great...The Collage represents their style perfectly...I know...much of my H.S. graduating class swear by these guys music and their talent... they also would love these pictures...

I think the band possibly took a defensive side to test your resolve and confidence...but that is pretty petty on their part...

As for just standing around, sort of like Dwight Yoakam does during his 34 song repertoire...DY at least has a better attitude than these guys.

On another shooting subject:
You might want to check my STYX posting if you get the chance, before you shoot them...I have some details to tell you about the original founder of STYX...he makes Cameo (special guest,)appearances periodically, during the latter part of the show and stays for several songs...

[taygull]

Dwight,

I like what you have done with the collage, I think the use of black and white was a good decision based on the poor choice of lighting. I'm not going to blame the lighting on Chumash as they have prooven they know what they are doing. I've got a funny feeling they had a stage manager (not with Chumash) with them who had control of the "atmosphere" they wanted to create.

The street cred on these guys as musicians is top notch, I suspect with the request for "no close ups" and the choice of lighting they (the band) have a "insecurity" issue with themselves as....well "older" musicians.

With respect to the white balance Dwight I would suspect you were dead on at least close enough being you captured the "color" of the event. I would suspect if shot in film and not digital they would have been a little less saturated.

Good images but unfortunately the "subject" did not put you in the best position to showcase your skill.

On a side note musicians with this level of skill should be beaten with a wet noodle for using music stands!

[Curtis N]

I was asked not to take any "close ups" so I told the guy, "No problem, I have big lenses."Hilarious! I gotta remember that one.

[DwightMcCann]

I thank you all for your comments. Steve, I did not have my bazooka with me ... I'm not comfortable with it on a monopod yet. It does seem that Walter and Donald as well as all the sidemen are excellent musicians but they used their own sound and lighting guys and that almost always greatly degrades the technical quality of Chumash shows. The bass player may have had physical disabilities and had to sit ... there are certainly a lot of marvelous musicians who have infirmities, B. B. King being a great example. Dwight Yoakam was pretty boring, too, John. And there have been performers whose contracts allow them to fire casino staff without cause (would never happen, of course), and several who did not want staff to look at them. I am generally in no way impacted by all this silliness as it usually the hotel staff and production people.

I did not stay for the whole concert. Friday night concerts are a bit tighter timewise for me so I left after about six songs. I am attaching one "out of camera" image that I liked even though it violates so many tenets of our craft.

[johnstoy]

Not meaning to rib you on this Post # 12, light purple/violet pic, but you didn't catch it in RAW by any chance, or did you? I bet Chris and Rene' have some ideas for you if you did get it in RAW...

Again though, on the color lighting scenario for Steely Dan...they are of age and their music style might just fit this particular lighting effect...I think you did great with what you were given to work with...

And yes, Dwight Yoakam's standing in place, did grow on me after 20+ songs...I paid to see him, so I stayed for the entire 34 songs just to see what happens... Only on a few songs, did he break out and dance briefly, a short bit here and there...

[DwightMcCann]

Ah, yes, John, #12 appeals to me because of the color that still contains some detail ... I don't want it different ... but, no, I didn't shoot RAW. :-)

[DeltaWebb]

I totally dig that last shot! It adds a lot of emotion and action to what sounds like a less than invigorating performance. I play a little guitar myself and would be stoked to have a shot of me in this exact format. AWESOME!!!

Oh and the rest of the shots are great...poked around your site and enjoyed it a lot.

[johnstoy]

Post #12 reminds me of the Op Art from the 60's....It's seen featured on many album covers and Beatles albums...My close college friend's brother produced the "White Album" for the Beatles...

Perhaps Steely Dan would like this picture for one of their theme albums...any of your pics are album cover Quality... I'm confident, they'd be happy to run with one, if and when they feature a new album...

[DwightMcCann]

Perhaps Steely Dan would like this picture for one of their theme albums...any of your pics are album cover Quality... I'm confident, they'd be happy to run with one, if and when they feature a new album...
If you go to their website they are very clear that they trash all attachments, don't want to hear about anything you have to offer them, and there are several layers of bureaucracy between them and us peons ... so I doubt that Walter will ever see this image since it isn't published anywhere but right here in this post ... although it is now part of my 114,000 photo file. ;)

[thelightofsound]

not what we're used to seeing from you dwight. i agree with rene on the lighting. i'm sure that made things a lot harder. then there are a couple that break your "head" rule, and the "no indication of performing arts" rule.

[DwightMcCann]

not what we're used to seeing from you dwight. i agree with rene on the lighting. i'm sure that made things a lot harder. then there are a couple that break your "head" rule, and the "no indication of performing arts" rule.

I'm not sure what my "head" rule is (guitar head perhaps?) but I'm equally sure I break the "rules ... of thumb" frequently as they are general guidelines for composition that need to be kept in mind. And I certainly did break the "no indication of performing arts" rule in that first image of Walter and chopped the guitar off in the third ... they were actually a response to a request by Denise LeBlanc-Martin for a "close up" of Walter. Shot with my 300mm f/2.8 I didn't have the flexibility of getting more in the frame but probably wouldn't have anyway. Denise, out of Massachusetts, is a maven in a large Steely Dan fan group to whom I've sent a CD of all images ... actually a duplicate of what I provided the casino. She was sitting in the front row with a sign before the concert so I went over and chatted her and her husband up for a few minutes, gave her my card and mentioned that I would have images in a week or two. When I put up the images I put a request that she email me when she saw them under the collage. She emailed me less than an hour after the images went up and asked if they could publish my gallery URL on their fan sites. I said, "Yes, and how did you know the gallery was up?" She said, "I've been checking your website every day." I expect she was checking more than once a day. Yup, I am certainly guilty of breaking my own rules but I usually have an excuse ... which may be good or bad, depending. ;)

[René Damkot]

Just can't say no to the ladies, can you ;)

[DwightMcCann]

Just can't say no to the ladies, can you ;)
Eh? Why would saying, "No" even occur to me? :cool: Sometimes I think you guys are a bit, er, ah, well, perhaps "strange".